Last week, I wrote about Sean the whirlwind. His marriage to Amanda had lasted 18 months and he wanted an annulment. He was also concerned that Amanda may bring a relationship property claim to half the home he owned before their marriage and that they had both lived in together. Sean is not alone in having his marriage or de facto relationship falter in the early stages. Marianne thought that her de facto relationship with Hugh was “for life”. When they decided to move in together 2 years ago, with talk of marriage being on the cards, it made sense that they lived in Marianne’s home ra ..read more

Sean was a whirlwind. When he rang to arrange his appointment, he sounded like he needed to be somewhere else in a hurry. When he came in for his consultation, he tipped over his coffee in his rush, spoke in a rapid fire stream and was about to dash across town to another meeting. It seems this was a pattern for Sean because when he sat down with me, he told me (quickly!) how he and his wife Amanda had fallen head over heels and were married just 4 months later. Unfortunately, the whirlwind continued and they separated 18 months later. It shouldn’t surprise you that Sean hoped the brevity ..read more

Robert and Megan are using the Collaborative Process to work through the legal and financial issues arising out of their decision to end their marriage to one another. Before starting the process, their separation had been a “slow burn”, gradually having less of a marital relationship and more of one akin to being “flat mates”. In March, they finally decided their marriage was at an end but have carried on sharing their home and their finances until they reach final agreements in their collaborative process. Jessica and Mitch had been living together in Rarotonga where Mitch had employment ..read more

I received a distraught phone call recently from Ramona. It was Wednesday and she was due to get married on Saturday. The one hitch to her getting hitched? Her husband-to-be, Ian, was still married to his ex and hadn’t got around to getting a divorce. “Can an urgent divorce be done?” pleaded Ramona, “What about the caterer?!”. Getting a divorce is relatively straightforward in New Zealand and you don’t need a lawyer. However, there are some things you need to be aware of. The legal term for a divorce is a “dissolution”. To bring your legal marriage or civil union to an end, you need to ..read more

Twelve years ago, Terry spent considerable time and money getting a Contracting Out agreement (pre nuptial agreement) completed with his partner, Monique. Not only did it cost him several thousand in legal costs, it was also pretty stressful as Monique didn’t really want to sign it. Now, he feels it was all worth it because he and Monique have just separated and he is relieved that he insisted on protecting his assets, including the home, with that agreement. Terry came to his first appointment with us clutching his Contracting Out Agreement and feeling confident that while Monique may hav ..read more

When they separated, Tane and Imelda could agree on two things – they did not want to end up in Family Court and they did not want their separation to become a battle ground that their children had to survive. They didn’t want their children to look back on this time as one full of endless arguments. They had seen friends and family members who, while not ending up in Court, still battled out their own separations armed with lawyers sending letters back and forth. This appeared to cost a lot, financially and emotionally. Tane and Imelda wanted a cost effective process that left them with t ..read more

Ten years! Hard to believe but this blog has been quietly ticking along for ten years. Phew – where did those ten years go? At Family Law Results, this week we’ve been celebrating by sharing our favourite blogs over on our Facebook page. Lauren Aspin, stella-solicitor at FLR, picked her favourite – the op-ed article from the NZ Herald that I wrote in the wake of ‘those’ pictures of Nigella Lawson and her husband, Charles Saatchi. Here’s why she chose it: “The Blog I have chosen is the article about family violence and Nigella Lawson. Why? This blog post resonates with me on many levels. Firstl ..read more